~ The progress of a garden (and other things that might crop up). It is dedicated to my father, who would have enjoyed following the garden's progress, and who's advice I will miss.

Monthly Archives: March 2014

the garden finished. James (and Leighton) has done a splendid job, even making the wall (I must resist calling it ‘my’ wall) look a bit old & rickety, & leaving gaps at the side of the steps to allow plants to take root. He was worried that people might think he’d done a bad job, but I said that I said I’d make sure that they knew that it was exactly as I wanted it.

Of course, as any gardener knows, a garden is never finished, & now I have to start planting. I’ve got plenty of plants waiting patiently – or not so patiently; since the weather has been a bit warmer they are bursting into leaf & eager to get going.

I should perhaps make it clear that I’ve not been doing any of the heavy work – it’s these two guys who have been doing it all. James (left) is the main man, & has a garden design & maintenance business, ‘I Dig It’, in Glasgow, ably assisted by Leighton (I hope that’s the right spelling) who, when he’s not digging the dirt for James is a composer, pianist & singer.

Clearing the lower terrace (which sounds terribly grand!) is almost finished. We did discover the foundation of a wall that was unexpected, but it’s good progress, and you can get a good idea of how it will look.

View of the garden as it was this spring. The re-design involves removing the higher white wall & reducing the level behind it to the height of the lower wall. This level will extend to a line running bottom left to top right of the picture with the previous post (‘Beginnings’), with a new brick retaining wall. This will give a terrace about 60 cms higher than the decking, making it more visible, & a higher terrace about 60cms above that at the back.

I’m starting this diary on the day that work started on the garden. I moved to the house in October last year, and as you can see from the picture the garden was pretty empty. Of course, ignoring everything I’ve told myself about waiting before planting anything, I put in daffodils & made the small bed you can see in the middle. Since then, ideas have developed so, needless to say, I’ve had to dig them up! Which just proves that you should always follow your own (& other’s) advice.